Under the Blood: The Unpardonable Sin of Whatever It is This Week

Our Public Theologians are failing us. Just kidding, that's not a thing.

It’s easy to get distracted in the latest arguments of the day. When vapid people post vapid phrases to make vapid points that are perennially and predictably besides-the-point, anger easily builds on both sides.

It’s also easy to be consumed by the paranoid feeling that a new something in evangelicalism must be constantly dispelled and vanquished. Largely, because that’s true. Satan’s assembly line of nonsense never stops turning, and like Santa’s elves, Satan’s demons are always in the workshop, banging out new devices to deceive, disarms, and distract Christians.

Polemical work is largely a catalogue of the devil’s schemes, and our blogs and website reporting forms a Museum of Idolatry that we might put on display, for future generations, all the various ways Satan has infiltrated the church and reeked havoc upon us. But if we aren’t careful, we Christians will get caught up on the silly little dumb novelties Satan casts at us each year, and fail to notice a much bigger scheme is at play. Think of it, if you will, as “missing the forest for the trees.”

Let me lay out the problem more precisely.

In battling dumb ideas and pseudo-heretical notions - especially on a daily basis - Satan is creeping in a much more damnable distraction and more pernicious heresy. If every sin (or idea, or ethos, or notion, or opinion) has eternal consequences, for example if it indicates that “no real Christian” would err in whatever way we’re upset about, we risk ceding ground on what the Gospel really is, and what the Gospel really accomplishes.

I spoke my angst, for example, at the automatic questioning by Reformed(ish) evangelicals who - upon hearing of Steve Lawson’s disqualifying sins - immediately opined that he was probably lost, and likely a false convert. Polls went up on X, asking the Court of Heaven (which consists of people on social media, I guess) to pronounce him saved or lost. It grieved me.

Sure, I’ll admit that “sinning so that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1) is indeed a terrible notion. Likewise, I’ll admit that willful and unrepentant sin should give the sinner reason to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). But then again, I’m not sure anyone needs another reason to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, other than the sin they committed in their sleep the night before. We are all, of course, wretched sinners and if we grade by Christ’s curve (as God certainly does) we remain wretched up until we depart the mortal coil.

But, it’s not a healthy notion to presume that every transgression is a fruit-inspection exam, the kind or type they have contests in the Future Farmers of America to judge produce. A tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:33), but even the best of trees will occasionally produce a rotten fruit or rancid nut. Jesus’ point was not that every fruit on the tree be sweet to the taste, but that over-all, the tree is producing fruit. In other words, even Christians will shed fruit on occasion that is no good. And this is not to mention that sometimes, the fruit is present on the tree, but it’s not yet ready or ripe for the plucking.

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Spiritual growth takes time, in other words. But like Jesus, we often curse the fig tree that produces no fruit (Matthew 21:18-19). But unlike Jesus, we aren’t Jesus.

It wasn’t that “God Hates Figs” (see what I did there?). It was that Jesus wanted figs, because he liked them. And that fig tree, which was upheld by the Word of Christ’s power (Hebrews 1:3), wasn’t serving its purpose, which was to give Jesus figs.

My point is, if every time we notice a new sin or bad idea, we go straight to “therefore, you aren’t really saved,” we discount and diminish the power of Christ’s shed blood. In other words, we aren’t “purifying the church” by these pronouncements. We’re soiling the Gospel, and sullying Christ’s blood.

I’ll give an example:

This isn’t about Samuel Sey, who enjoys the privilege of his melanin count on the evangelical right, who are just happy to have a black friend. Lacking original thoughts or profound insights, hardly ever, is overcome by the novelty of skin tone. And frankly, good for him. I’m happy for him.

But this type of statement, especially when it is compounded by a thousand other similar statements wafting around Evangelical Twitter X, speaks volumes about the slippery slope of bad ideas. Tweeting merely for the ‘likes’ sometimes has doctrinal consequences we’re too slow to consider.

My question is this; does anti-semitism really keep you out of Heaven?

Of course, anti-semitism, if it’s defined as hatred of Jews (as opposed to the million other ways it’s defined, like thinking AIPAC shouldn’t bribe members of Congress or by criticizing George Soros) is a sin. And it’s a sin, because we’re commanded to love. God certainly hates, but there’s a divine double-standard.

If our attitude is not the same for Jews as it is, for example, homosexuals (hating the sin and loving the sinner), we’re guilty of partiality (James 2:1).

The Jesus Juke from Sey (I’ll be defining that term more fully in another article) is a simple one; when people disagree that antisemitism is the unpardonable sin, criticism can be dispelled by citing a verse like 1 John 3:15, “He who hates his brother is a murderer, and there is no eternal life in him.” If someone argues that Jews are not our brothers, just cite another Scripture about the fruit of the spirit being love (Galatians 5:22-23).

But what that level of argumentation - which is more fit for Veggie Tales than for literate adults - overshadows the reality that Christians have flesh, and therefore, have fruits of the flesh (sins) as well as fruits of the spirit.

Consider what the Apostle Paul writes…

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (Romans 7:18-20)

Paul is broken hearted in this passage, because he acknowledges that try as he might, his flesh is at war with his spirit, and sin has burrowed deep in his flesh. No matter what he tries, his sin remains!

But then, in a few verses comes the best news in all of Scripture…

“There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those that in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

Evangelicals must resist the temptation to label every sin as an indicator that someone is condemned to hell. Not only does it magnify certain sins above others, it diminishes the effectual nature of Christ’s shed blood.

For example, I detest skinny jeans, and I detest the men who wear skinny jeans. I hate them. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s the same way I feel about gay men showing public displays of affection. It’s the same feeling that I get when I see a snake on my farm. I get mad at the snake for existing, or at the very least, existing in my presence. I truly don’t get afraid when I see a snake, so much as get angry at it. And further, I recognize that my hatred of those men who wear such britches, is only partially justifiable. For the most part, it’s illogical. And it’s wrong, and even sinful. And no matter how much I try to suppress it - for example, when I see that epidermis of denim on one of my kids’ friends - I still feel that way.

Am I lost for this?

Believe it or not - and this may shock you - Jesus’ blood covers our unrighteousness. It covers all of our unrighteousness. And furthermore, God is gracious enough to cleanse us from all unrighteousness by the virtue of divine decree, regardless of whether or not we still have those sinful prejudices burrowed deep in the recesses of our fallen hearts.

The last such brouhaha that I remember, that had been designated the Unpardonable Sin, at least informally, was the attempted pornography cleanse about 3 years ago. Many pronouncements existed - some from very famous evangelical leaders - that viewing pornography was a tell-tale sign of false conversion.

I’m in a precarious situation at this point, I know. On one hand, I don’t want to convey that sinning with reckless abandon and without remorse is something that Christians do. But on the other, might God forbid sending the message that justification expiates every sinful impulse, or that sanctification is complete this side of Heaven.

It’s interesting indeed, on the antisemitism debate, to see Reformed(ish) evangelicals speak as though they’re Church of the Nazarene, and that a Second Blessing imparts to us a sanctification that is perfected. We are simul justus et peccator, as Luther taught, or “simultaneously, justified and a sinner.”

Perhaps we are not as brave as we think we are, amidst our (truthful) proclamations that Hitler was bad, because we are too afraid to be called a “Nazi apologist” to proclaim that bigotry does not keep one out of Heaven.

Consider the pearl-clutching that would occur if - for example - we acknowledged that a great many German Lutherans wearing Nazi uniforms in WWII died and went to Heaven, but not a single Jews exterminated in Auschwitz who denied Jesus was the Messiah, would go to meet them there.

Maybe we’ve preached-down the effectual nature of Christ’s blood to a sinful extent.

If you’re reading this and struggling with sin, please understand that lost people do not struggle with sin. They embrace it. Only those with whom the Spirit deals, wars against it. That’s a good thing, and I want you to know something; Jesus’ blood is more powerful than your darkest thoughts.

His blood is more powerful than hatred. His blood is more powerful than your lust. His blood is more powerful than your adultery. His blood is more powerful than your addiction. His blood is more powerful than anger. His blood is more powerful than your bigotry. His blood is more powerful than your greed. His blood is more powerful than any sin that you could possibly commit.

None of those proclamations are pro-sin. None of those proclamations negate the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. None of those proclamations contradict what the Bible has to say about mortifying sin.

Sometimes, we want to score points against a specific sin that we really hate in the moment. But if we turn that sin into an unpardonable transgression, or an immediate indication of false conversion, we run roughshod over the blood of Christ and its power to save.

Years ago, there was much talk about the gospel being “radical” and a lot of that talk went into stupid directions. But make no mistake, the gospel really is radical, just not in a David Platt-type way. It’s radical because it saves the absolute most wretched of sinners. And once saved, the blood of Christ still covers the most wretched of sins.

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